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German Court Grants Motorola Xbox and Windows 7 Sales Ban
First time accepted submitter Celexi writes "In a surprising move, Motorola Mobility (which is to be taken over by Google), has won an injunction preventing the distribution of Windows 7 and the Xbox in Germany until Microsoft starts paying royalty fees for the patents Microsoft is said to be infringing (two patents used to display H.264 video). The ruling is suspended as of now because of a restraining order, the effect in the rest of the EU and U.S. if the ban is enforced if the restraining order is lifted, is unclear."
This could go into effect as soon as May 7th, pending the result of the next U.S. case hearing.
Nice to see Apple yet again resorting to the courts to... What's that? It's not Apple using the courts to stifle competition? It's sweet-and-dear Motorola/Google? Oh... Awkward...
All I have to say is I told you so.
Like Motorolla would be happy letting you download and use a HTML 5 browser for free. Obviously you simply can't.
With this and the potential ruling that merely syntax is copyrightable in the Oracle VS Google case 2 things will happen. Either people will see how rediculious patents and copyright are and change. Or the bribery will continue and no one but big pockets will compete. Hell, MS has big pockets and still are getting nailed. This is getting nuts.
It seems China and India are the only ones not crazy here.
http://saveie6.com/
Legally maybe, but reasonably?
Were you cheering for them as they trolled companies using Linux and demanded they pay for "Linux licenses?"
And if you were even remotely successful Microsoft would still threaten you. Patents are just one of Microsoft's weapons to wield against competitors.
Ok, so you submit stories under one name, create a new account, and then post the very second the article is submitted.
We get it, you have an agenda you want to promote, but you don't want to do it under your own account because it is already known you are just a shill and this makes it harder to ignore you.
I just have one request, fuck off.
Slashdot Editors, if you continue to be apparently complicit in helping him push his agenda then people will quit having discussions on this site. It will badly damage /.'s reputation and in the end your bottom line.
Don't know something? Look it up. Still don't know? Then ask.
Seriously, ponder for a moment what would happen if Nebraska decided to ban MS products. Well? Right. People from Nebraska wanting MS products will buy them outside Nebraska.
It's not much different for the EU.
We used to have a Bill of Rights. Now, with the rights gone, all we have left is the bill.
The Motorola / Google deal hasn't closed yet, until it does Google can not control legally Motorola. Let Google take control of the company before you start blaming them. Motorola is struggling tech company with a lot IP so it really shouldn't surprise anyone that it turned to IP litigation just like so many other tech companies on their way out. Until Google takes over this is Motorola hedging in case the merger falls through.
Microsoft gets $15 per Android handset for patents so weak they won't reveal in public. So if Google sticks it to Microsoft the world is a better place and good on them.
To use Microsoft's own phrase "Whaaaaaaaa".
Don't dish it out if you can't take it.
Those are not software patents. WiFi and H.264 are not software.
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So why wouldn't they pull a move often used by every other bad company?
The bad company here is Microsoft, making billions on Android, an OS which it did zilch to build. So Google is hitting back in self defense. Don't get our panties in a twist, yet.
If you keep throwing chairs, one day you'll break windows....
Aren't Motorola acting in self defense? As i understand it, MS has been trying to shake down android handset manufacturers for a while and motorola are one of the few that refused to give in to their demands.
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how a court ruling in a US court has any bearing on the German legal system and why the German legal system (and whichever authorities are responsible for enforcing the decision by the German judge) has to even care what the US court said and cant just say "screw the US, we are going to enforce the ban starting right now"
Or is there some sort of international treaty that applies here?
Er, the lawyers?
Clean room software engineering is supposed to be only knowing the inputs and outputs of the piece of software your trying to implement, without any inside knowledge of the source code.
This is how companies like Award, Phoenix and Compaq got away with cloning the IBM BIOS on the original IBM PC's as they used programmers and engineers who had never seen a copy of the code itself, and instead only provided them with "Input Command X results in Y if condition Z is met" type of documentation.
Reading the code and then rewriting it to do the exact same thing has been a violation of software copyrights since the 1980's when many companies tried to do that to the IBM BIOS, the legality of doing what your implying in court cases has already been shown to be illegal for the last 3 decades or so.
Despite having "software" in the name, "software patents" include all patents on algorithms and protocols—anything which can be implemented in software—of which WiFi and H.264 are obvious examples. So long as the patent would cover a software implementation, it's a software patent; the fact that any software can also be implemented in fixed hardware is irrelevant.
If the patent only covers a particular was of implementing the algorithm or protocol in hardware, and thus would not apply to any software implementation, then it's still an unjust act of aggression, and a net loss to society, but it's not a software patent.
"The state is that great fiction by which everyone tries to live at the expense of everyone else." - Bastiat